The work of Dundee Christian Unions – Craig Anderson

Soularium cards – Getting students thinking

Student led – We believe that students are best placed to reach students for Christ. They have access to students, maximum integrity with university/college authorities, maximum creativity, and maximum opportunity for students to learn to live and speak for Jesus in their ‘workplace’.

Interdenominational – We are committed to the central truths of the gospel which is the basis of our unity, the foundation of our ministry and the content of our message. We are unashamedly “confessional” and value gospel clarity and gospel unity. Students come together from many church backgrounds with a vision for evangelism where God has placed them.

Mission Teams- Christian Unions are mission teams that operate at the very heart of university and college campuses. Led by students, resourced by Christian Union Staff Workers and supported by the local church. Our call is to partner with God in His rescue mission to students. It is His work, on His campuses, for His glory.

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The History of Christian Unions

Christian Unions began in 1877 at Cambridge University but things began to grow in 1919 with a student called Norman Grubb. He wrote

Norman Grubb (1895-1993)

“I had one overwhelming urge – to get around to all the rooms of the men in my College and witness to them. I did this, though often it cost me a lot to do it. Before I left university, the Spirit distinctly came on me to go and speak in no uncertain terms to all I knew personally who had not accepted Christ, or who at least showed no sign of spiritual life. There had been this definite “commission” that I had to give myself to witness in the university. I went and pulled no punches, and a number came out for Christ, about sixteen of them. This caused a stir like a touch of revival. As I shared these experiences with others in the Christian Union, it came like a vision to me that every university and college in Britain and the world should have its evangelical and witnessing Christian Union, as we had. Little did I then realise that this was the start of what has since grown to become the world-wide ‘Christian Union’ Fellowship, now in hundreds and probably thousands of colleges in all nations.”

Over the following decade CUs were established by students in universities all over the British Isles, including Dundee, forming the Inter-Varsity Fellowship (IVF) in 1927-1928.

World mission had always been a passion of the CUs and as soon as it was established the IVF began sending its members to other nations, beginning in 1928 where students sold their belongings to buy Howard Guinness a sea passage to Canada. By 1935, 307 CU graduates were serving as missionaries around the world and CU movements were being established in many different countries. In 1947 the 10 CU movements across the world joined together to form the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES).

More of the history of the CU movement can be found on the UCCF website here-

www.uccf.org.uk/about

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The work of Christian Unions in Dundee

In Dundee we have three Christian Unions; Dundee University, Abertay University and Duncan of Jordanston Art College.

It has been said that university/college provides the last best opportunity for people to engage with the gospel. Students arrive and they have time; they are thinking, they are developing a worldview and they usually live in a community. So this provides a huge opportunity to share the good news of the gospel to a generation of people who do not know Jesus. With more students attending university and colleges in the U.K. than ever before, every year provides a harvest field which Jesus is Lord over and we must pray for labourers.

As students it is easy to be comfortable when attending weekly CU meetings, especially in bigger CUs like Dundee where on average 80 Christian students might attend. If each of these students have a consistent witness with three friends, perhaps even reading John’s gospel with them after building genuine friendship, that still leaves around 98.5% of students in the university with no consistent Christian witness. At Abertay university, that number is about 99.1%. Thousands upon thousands of students, just in Dundee, do not worship the Lord. They are alienated from the God who made them. Many are simply ignorant of true Christianity so there is no room for Christian Unions to sit back and be comfortable.

Afterwards at a joint CU carol service (St.Peters, 2014)

To give you an idea of what events and activities the students have been involved in as well as daily living for Jesus to witness to their friends, I will mention a few things here.  Since I have been in the position of Staff Worker in Dundee with UCCF, seeking to support the students in their mission, they have run carol services for their friends at St Peter’s with well over 1000 students attending over the three years. There have been scores of students reading John’s gospel with their friends. Unnumbered conversions had between Christian students and their non-Christian friends and others on campus. And finally, and most wonderfully, students have met the Lord Jesus and repented of their sins and believed in Him.

Throughout students are being cared for, supported by and disciplined in local churches in the city. So with great thankfulness we say, ‘Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!’ (Psalm 115:1)

Especially when we have such surety when it comes to evangelism. There are many passages I could turn to in scripture, but one verse that has sustained me many times comes from John 10. ‘And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.’ (John 10:16) I have every confidence that everyone for whom the Lord Jesus dies, will be saved. That there was no blood wasted on the cross. So as we seek to go out and engage with students, and generously share the gospel seed there will be some which land on good soil (Mark 4:8) and people will be saved. We may not ever see it, but we trust the Lord will do His work through His word by the power of the Holy Spirit.

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Christian Unions and St Peter’s

St Peter’s has long supported the work of the CUs in Dundee.

As I chat to members of our congregation on Sundays, I am often asked how the Dundee CUs are getting on and what events are coming up.  Many times I have heard the phrase ‘back in my day when I went to CU…’. It’s great to know that we are part of a legacy of Christians who have lived out their faith as students and continue to do so now in a different stage of life and its great to learn from their experiences and hear their encouragements.

St.Peters has also supported many graduates from around the country through UCCF’s ten month graduate discipleship programme called Relay. It was a pleasure to have Cara Ritson (nee Naismith) helping to speak at Dundee CUs events week this year who attended St Peter’s during her year on relay in 2011-2012. We often receive updates from one of our mission partners, Susan Buchan, who is also a former relay worker who came to St Peter’s 2013-2014. But not all relays workers have come and gone; others like Bev Allyn have come and stayed.

More recently we as a church have welcomed Thanos and his family from Greece where Thanos used to lead the work of the CUs, and Jean-Baptiste who was very involved with the work of the CUs in France (GBU de France).

And as a denomination, the Free Church of Scotland has in some ways had a long standing friendship with UCCF through Thomas Chalmers and his work with ‘The St Andrews Seven’ and the St Andrews University Missionary Society, a proto-Christian Union.

It’s such a blessing to be supported in prayer each week by the church family at St.Peters and we thank you for your continued support.

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More information

If you would like to stay informed and partner with me in this work, seeking to help equip and train students to proclaim the gospel on campus and train student leaders, my prayer letters can be found at the back of church and please visit https://www.uccf.org.uk/give/staff-worker/craig-anderson if you’d like to help give financially to this work.
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Craig Anderson is the UCCF Staff Worker for Dundee area and an elder in St.Peter’s Free Church.

March 2017